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Turning 40 in style

September was absolutely full-on and crazy! It’s a busy month for my family. We have lots of birthdays – I had my big 40th on the 22nd September. Ben’s birthday was the week before on the 14th, and then it was the twins’ birthday and then my sister-in-law, so we ended up having a whole weekend of birthdays and we had four cakes in the house, lots of parties to organise, kids and guests around.

I love birthdays. Ben isn’t really one for celebrating – I think that’s men in general, right? But I absolutely love birthdays and in Russia it’s a big deal. It was my 40th so of course I had to do it even bigger. I had a birthday bash in London with lots of my friends and it was so nice catching up. There was lots of dancing in the nightclub, I felt really good. I was a bit scared about hitting the 40 mark but I don’t feel any different. I suppose if anything I feel more excited about life because there are so many projects going on, things I couldn’t do because I was so busy on Strictly before. There’s this stigma about being 40 but actually I feel like it’s the best age ever. You do what you want to do, I have all this knowledge and expertise from being on stage and live TV – it’s great! Plus, women become more beautiful at this age I think. All of my idols like Salma Hayek, Jennifer Lopez, Eva Longoria – they’re all over 40 and looking amazing and they became more beautiful with age. I think with age comes confidence, security. Women know how to dress, they know their style and how to do their make-up. They look more stunning than ever, so I’m hoping I can learn from them!

Dance to the Music

In other news, I recently announced on Lorraine my next big project, Dance to the Music – my tour with Robin Windsor, who was my professional partner on Strictly. I’m also performing with Christopher Maloney, who I met on Big Brother. We really became friends on that show and so when I had to put forward names of singers for the tour, I thought of Christopher immediately. I can’t wait to work with him. It means a lot when you’re working with your real friends and hanging out with them off stage. Oksana Platero, who was on Strictly last year, will also be joining us with her husband.

It’s going to be very exciting and I’m so proud of it! It’s a truly unique show. We basically go through each era of music from the 1920s to modern day, and we show how all music styles have impacted dance. Charleston, Lindy hop, hustle, swing, disco, breakdance, street and hip hop and of course Latin and ballroom – we’re going to be performing it all! We want to bring families together and appeal to everyone. Whether you’re eight or 80, you’re going to love it! You can buy tickets here: www.dancetothemusictour.com.

Skin-tightening treatment

Of course, being on stage has its worries too. Wearing costumes and dancing with other girls on stage, I’m going to want to look my best. I found that after losing the baby weight and going vegan, I’m feeling good but I have my own insecurities too like lots of other women. After losing the weight, I have extra skin and let’s say, wobbly bits! I do a lot of yoga and exercise but I still feel like my tummy pouch is there, my legs are a bit wobbly here and there. So I’ve been looking at skin tightening programmes and I’m very careful about what I do. I don’t want to do anything invasive at all. Thankfully, I was recommended a clinic in London by some of my friends in the industry including Melissa Odabash. Dr Rita Rakus is very famous for her non-invasive treatments. I’ve done five on my thighs and tummy and I have really seen the difference. I think it works hand in hand with exercise and diet. You can’t just rely on the treatments, I want to stress that. I felt like I needed an extra helping hand and the treatments have been amazing. I feel really good and confident about myself now. I was worried that I would have to make a whole new set of costumes! I wanted to be really honest about what I’ve done and I would recommend it to people if you feel like you need some extra help. If you want to check out her website, it’s here: www.drritarakus.com.

Forever Living

As an ambassador of Forever Living, I’m really excited to say that we’ve just launched a new skincare range called #Infinite. I really feel like this time of year doesn’t suit my skin. It’s cold outside but you’ve got the heating on inside, and the change in temperature often causes my skin to break out and feel really dry in places. The range features vitamins which have collagen in them. They come all in one box and it’s a 60-day programme. I really feel like my skin hasn’t suffered this autumn because of these vitamins. You are what you eat after all! Check out their website here: foreverliving.com/page/home-page/gbr/en.

Mila has started nursery

The other exciting news in my family is that Mila has started nursery – it’s a big milestone for us! I always thought I’d wait until she was two before I put her in nursery, but she’s just so active and sociable, running around all over the house, that Ben and I felt she needed a bit more stimulation and interaction with other babies. She needs to know how to interact with other children – share her toys, play with other babies. We spent a while looking for a good nursery but we found one in the end.

The first week was hard. She wasn’t happy, she was crying and when I would leave her, I felt my heart squeezing. I felt like, ‘I can’t leave her there!’ But then she settled and now she’s really happy and really likes it. She goes straight to the garden to play with other babies. She’s still settling into her feeding time at the nursery, but overall she’s really loving it. She’s growing a lot too! It’s of course important to still have that time with her, that bonding time, so all of August we spent in the park.

I would do my pram exercises while she was sitting in the pram, enjoying watching me I suppose! I knew that I was going on tour in the autumn so I’ve been using my pram again as a ballet barre and doing all my exercises! I used to get excited shopping for make-up and clothes but now I’m really excited about prams! Mila is growing so I had to find a new pram which is great and comfy for her but also for me! I am totally in love with this new pram called Summit X3 from baby jogger® – Baby Jogger (www.babyjogger.co.uk). I love that it’s a multi-functional pram and great for running around for errands, shopping, working out and taking Mila for the walks around the lakes. It’s very light and stylish! Basically it’s a gift not only for Mila but also for myself!

Readers’ questions

As always, thanks for sending your questions! Please keep them coming using #AskKristina by tweeting me on @KRihanoff and @hellomag and I’ll try and answer them in my next blog.